Life
?- ; son of Collis Somerville-Large, surgeon (Fitzwilliam Place); lived
at Farmhill, Dundrum and after at Laragh Hse.; spent childhood in Kerry;
issued travel works including The Grand Irish Tour (1982); The
Irish Country House: A Social History (1995); Dublin: The Fair
City (1996); The Irish Country House: A Social History (1995);
with Jason Hawkes, Ireland from the Air (Weidenfeld 1997), 160pp.
Works
To the Navel of the World (London: Hamish Hamilton 1987);
Irish Eccentrics: A Selection (Dublin: Lilliput Press 1990), 300pp.;
Shaggy Yak Story: Forty Years of Unfinished Journeys (London: Sinclair-Stevenson
1991), 300pp.; Coast of West Cork (Belfast: Appletree Press 1991),
222pp.; Irish Country House: A Social History, with commissioned
photos. by Mark Fiennes (London: Sinclair-Stevenson 1995), 400pp.,
32pp. col. pls.; Dublin: The Fair City, with commissioned photos
by Mark Fiennes (London: Sinclair-Stevenson 1996; pb. 1997), 320pp.,
32pp. col. pls.; Ireland from the Air, with photos by Jason Hawkes (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1997 rep. 1998), 160pp.; Ireland:
The Living Landscape (NY&London: Roberts Rinehart; Canada Key
Porter 1992, rep. 1994), 168pp.; Irish Voices: 50 Years of Irish Life
1916-1966 (London: Chatto & Windus. 1999), 318pp., reiss. (London:
Pimlico 2000), 320pp.; Legendary Ireland, with photos by Tom Kelly
(Dublin: Town House; NY: Roberts Rinehart 1996), 156pp.; Peter Somerville
Large, An Irish Childhood (London: Constable & Robinson 2002), 246pp.
Quotations
Laragh House: 'A previous owner had been connected by marriage
to the Bartons and Childers associated with Glendalough House, who had
played their considerable part in recent Irish history. But Mr Booth did
not appear to have been interested in patriotism or politics. We were
told that he had hanged himself from the chandelier in the main hall after
sustaining gambling debts in Monte Carlo.’ (p.109.)
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References
Bernard Share, ed., Far Green Fields, 1500 Years of Irish Travel
Writing (Belfast: Blackstaff 1992), contains extract from To the
Navel of the World (London: Hamish Hamilton 1987).
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